On November 17, 2022, in Richmond, Virginia, bivalent COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were prepared for use in a clinic.
When the national public health emergency for the coronavirus ends next week, the Biden administration will end the majority of the final federal COVID-19 vaccine requirements, the White House announced on Monday.
COVID-19 Federal Mandate Measures
On May 11, vaccination requirements for federal employees, federal contractors, and foreign air visitors to the United States will be lifted.
Additionally, the government is starting the process of eliminating the requirement for vaccinations for Head Start teachers, healthcare professionals, and foreign nationals at US land borders.
The elimination of the requirements is the most recent example of how President Joe Biden’s administration is moving to treat COVID-19 as a common, endemic illness.
The requirements are among the last remnants of some of the more coercive measures taken by the federal government to promote vaccination as the deadly virus raged.
According to a statement from the White House, the Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security will begin their own procedures to terminate vaccination mandates for Head Start teachers, staff members at medical facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid, and some noncitizens at the land border.
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Strategies of Health Officials for COVID-19
In 2021, public health professionals pushed for the measures, arguing that they were required to address vaccination reluctance and boost defenses against a virus that was responsible for tens of thousands of fatalities each month.
Health officials in the United States have been considering a long-term strategy for combating COVID-19 for more than a year.
This strategy would be more in line with the way influenza is handled, with updated vaccinations given annually to target the most recent virus strains, especially for the most vulnerable.
The new bivalent boosters, which went on sale in September 2022 and offer superior defense against the omicron strains that are still in circulation, have only been administered to less than 56 million Americans, or 17% of the total population.
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